School
1085 Words
"You better hurry girl. It's a long walk to school." Elaine commented.
Charlotte looked at her in confusion.
"Is there no bus? How will I know how to get to school if I've never been there?" She asked.
Today was to be Charlotte's first day of school since moving to North North Rochester.
"Go left when you reach the main road. The school is about 3 miles down. You'll see the sign." Elaine explained dismissively.
"And from now on you can eat breakfast there." She added.
Charlotte nodded as she threw her backpack over her shoulder and headed out the door. The backpack was apparently an old one of Danny's. It was just barely held together with duct tape.
It was cold out but fortunately not snowing. Charlotte wrapped her jacket around herself tightly and tried to walk briskly to keep warm. Spring couldn't come soon enough in her opinion.
Not long after she started Charlotte had that creepy feeling like someone was watching her. She kept glancing nervously into the forest. A couple of times she thought she saw a black shadow in her periphery but every time she turned to look it was gone.
Maybe, it was just the first day's nerves. Charlotte mused. It didn't matter how many schools she attended, the first day always made her nervous.
The school turned out to be nothing like she expected. It was an old stone mansion, built in 1908 she was told by Carter, the boy assigned to show her around.
"...and that's Mad Dog Michael. The jury is still out on whether he got the name because of his mad football skills or if he was bitten by a rabid animal," Carter said nonchalantly pointing at a statue as they passed.
Charlotte started laughing. Carter seemed to have a good sense of humor and she was glad he was the one showing her around.
"Ok here's your first class. I'll come to get you once it's over." Carter said with a bright smile that made Charlotte blush.
The morning went pretty smoothly. Carter made sure to show her to each one of her classes. Charlotte tried to take mental notes on where each class was because she knew she'd be on her own tomorrow.
"Where to next?" She asked cheerfully.
"You have lunch after Chemistry," Carter answered.
"Oh. And you don't?"
"No, unfortunately, they have to split the lunches because our cafeteria is too small for everyone to use at once."
Charlotte felt a bit deflated at that news. She hadn't had time to talk to anyone other than Carter.
"Don't worry, I'll introduce you to my friend Amelia. She has the same lunch as you. I think you'll like her." Carter said.
Charlotte was surprised by how considerate he was being.
"Amelia!" Carter shouted. The hallway was beginning to get crowded as people switched classes but a pretty girl with short black hair walked over to them.
"Hey, Carter!" The girl greeted cheerfully.
"Amelia, this is Charlotte. She's new here. Would you show her to the lunchroom?" He asked.
"Of course!" Amelia answered gleefully dragging Charlotte away.
"How's your first day been?" Amelia questioned as they made their way to the cafeteria.
"It's been good. I'm still trying to figure out where everything is but Carter has been kind in showing me around."
"Carter is super nice. Even nicer to look at don't you think?" Amelia laughed. Charlotte was pretty sure she was blushing. He was pretty cute with his dirty blonde hair and sea foam-colored eyes.
"Here we are," Amelia announced coming to a stop at the end of the lunch line.
Several people in line turned around to give Charlotte dirty looks as if they could sense her presence.
"Don't mind them. They don't like outsiders. It's a small-town mentality." Amelia explained.
Amelia continued to chatter as they made their way to the front of the line.
"Are you new, girl?" The lunch lady asked.
"Yes?" Charlotte wasn't sure how that was relevant.
"You need money in your account. No money, no lunch."
Charlotte blushed as the people behind her began to whisper. Could this be any more embarrassing?
"I'm supposed to get free lunch because I'm a ward of the state." She whispered.
"Tomorrow you ask for a sack lunch then. That's all the state covers." The lady explained.
Charlotte nodded uncomfortably and hurried to catch up to Amelia.
"Is everything ok? Oh look Maddie already saved us a seat. Come on."
Charlotte quickly took a seat, not wanting to draw any more attention to herself.
"Hi! I'm Madison." The new girl introduced.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Charlotte..." Charlotte trailed off as a beautiful blonde girl swept past their table. Everything about her screamed effortless and confident.
"Who's that?" Charlotte thought.
"That's Serafina" Amelia answered. Charlotte hadn't even realized she asked out loud.
"She's the daughter of... someone very important. And obviously, she's extremely gorgeous."
"She's the head cheerleader. All the boys love her but she'll probably end up dating the quarterback." Madison added.
"How typical" Charlotte sighed.
The three girls chatted the rest of the lunch period. It seemed Carter was correct. They got along quite well. Amelia even invited her over for a girl's night in a couple of weeks.
The rest of the day passed rather quickly. Charlotte ran into Danny in the hall a couple of times but he ignored her. They didn't have any classes together because she was a senior and he was a junior.
When class was over Charlotte started the long trek home. The same black shadow followed her all the way back.
Could it be the wolf from the other day? Charlotte hadn't told anyone about her run-in.
Perhaps it was stalking her... trying to finish the job it had started. But she remembered how massive it looked. Much bigger than a normal wolf. Surely something of that size couldn't move so nimbly through the forest.
*** GIO ***
Gio followed his mate's scent to the house.
He waited anxiously outside until she left again the next morning.
He had to follow her to make sure she was safe. His mate was human and weak.
She smelled nervous as she walked from the house to the school.
Gio decides to wait outside of the school for her so he could follow her back home. He used to go to the school too but he couldn't remember what time of day the students left.
That felt like another life.
- Writer
